“Dec regional gaming revs should be coming out from the states this week and next and it won’t be pretty.” So warns Todd Jordan, aka 
@HedgeyeSnakeye. Case in point, Illinois, where revenues tumbled 13%. Even market leader Rivers Casino was down 4%. A statewide market that grossed $145 million in December 2011, is now down to $115 million in December 2013. The figures were brutal for casinos both great and small. Compared to last December, Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice caromed down 21%. MGM Resorts International’s Grand Victoria dropped 18%, and Penn National Gaming‘s boats suffered: -19% at Empress Joliet, -17% at Hollywood Aurora and -12% at Alton Belle (which, being the smallest, ought to have suffered the most).
Off 15%, Harrah’s Joliet ran into a wall just when it seemed to be on the comeback trail. Once-popular Casino Rock Island has lost its charm, evidently, down 16%. And Casino Queen, in East St. Louis, slipped 10%. Looking back over 2013 as a whole, Harrah’s Metropolis was the biggest loser, off 12.5% (thanks to Isle of Capri Cape Girardeau) while the closest thing to victory was Rivers Casino ending the year 0.5% up over 2012. That’s not exactly cause to bust out the champagne.
Rent-a-Concierge: Vital Vegas has twigged to a “dirty little secret,” namely that certain Strip properties are closing their concierge departments and 
outsourcing the service to something called Tickets & Tours, which specializes in stuff like this. A concierge’s job is a complicated function, one that encompasses much more than hawking show tickets. As Vital Vegas puts it, “To a genuine concierge, it matters if you have a good experience, and because they work for the hotel, they are accountable for their actions.” So far, the only properties reported to be making this skinflint move are — you guessed it — Caesars Entertainment ones. Sadly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Gary Loveman administration, with its corner-cutting style. Caesars: Where the customer almost matters.
